Committee announces 2019 class; banquet to be held April 27 at The Club

The Atmore Hall of Fame committee recently released the inductees of the 2019 class.

The HOF banquet will be held on Sat., April 27, at The Club, at 6 p.m.

This year’s class includes Dr. Wilmer E. Baker; Ann Gordon; Lt. Col (retired) Wayne Stacey; Issac Holt; Novy Lee Hale (deceased); and Robert Faircloth (deceased).

The following bios are for Faircloth, Hale, Baker and Stacey. The other two inductees’ bios will be in next week’s edition.

Robert William Faircloth Sr.

Faircloth was born June 6, 1930, in Wallace. He moved to Atmore as a child, where he individually became involved in the family grocery business. In 1968, he bought the Ponderosa, and after a series of trials and errors, he came up with the Party Burger. On Friday and Saturdays, teenagers would make the trip to The Ponderosa to the dairy bar and back again, according to the committee. He also opened a chicken restaurant in the Winn-Dixie shopping center that served fried chicken. He stayed in restaurants, where he received franchise of the year and home town hero award from his franchise of Church’s Chicken. In 1993, Faircloth transitioned Ponderosa to David’s Catfish. He kept his community commitments while at David’s. Faircloth was an active member of First United Methodist Church and a proud member of the Barnes’ Boys.

Novy Lee Hale

For most of Hale’s life, he was employed by the Alabama Department of Corrections at Fountain Correctional Facility. He began his corrections work riding a horse and guarding prisoners as they worked in the farm fields. He became the “dog warden,” according to family. As a dog warden, he’d train bloodhounds to follow the scent of prisoners that might escape. Hale eventually became the deputy warden at Fountain, and as a family moved again into the Gaines house, which was with all of the other houses in a line. After several years, he was moved to Kilby Prison in Montgomery, where he served as deputy warden. He didn’t believe in the capital punishment, but did believe that every prisoner had good inside of them. He then moved to a honor camp as warden in Montgomery for two years before becoming the warden at Fountain. As warden, Hale helped enhance the prison fellowship program began by Martin Weber. Other activities include as a member of First United Methodist Church in Atmore, and initiated a Ruritan Club in the Huxford area.

Wilmer E. Baker

Baker was born in Atmore on Nov. 28, 1934. He lives in Summerdale, and is married with three children. Baker has an extensive military service, serving in the Army National Guard as an aviator assault pilot and in the medical service corps. He was an aviator in the Air National Guard from 1962-1969; and was in the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve for seven years, also as an aviator. He was a part of the Fleet Service from 1959-1962, and in the Naval Flight Program from 1958-1959. He was in the United States Marine Corps four-and-a-half years as an aviator out of Quantico, Va. Baker graduated from Escambia County High School in 1953, and earned his bachelor’s degree from Samford University. He went to graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Baker received his Ph.D. in research and psychology from NOBTS in 2013, a Ed.D. in research and psychology in 1973, specialist in education in 1971, and went to medical school for biomedical ethics at Princeton University in 1979. He attended the University of Utah and Georgia, where he studied alcohol studies. Additionally, Baker attended the University of North Carolina school of medicine. Baker was appointed as professor at the University of South Alabama, and won state medical association awards.

Wayne Stacey

Lt. Col. (retired) Wayne Stacey is a native of Atmore. He has been married to Major (retired) Donna Kay Stacey for 35 years. He has five adult children and nine grandchildren, and has resided in Gulf Shores for 14 years. Stacey graduated from ECHS in 1961, Auburn University in 1965 (bachelor’s degree in administration), Butler University (master’s degree in business administration) in 1976 and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1979. Stacey has a long-established military service record, including commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army from Auburn, assignments to Ft. Benning, Ga., Ft. Harrion, Ind., Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., Ft. Hood, Texas, Ft. Knox, Ky., Ft. Bragg, N.C., Vietnam, Okinawa, Japan and South Korea. He had several staff duties and commands. Stacey served as leadership instructor in U.S. Army schools, numerous Army task forces and retired from active duty in 1991 with over 25 years of service. He was awarded the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC), defense meritorious service medal, meritorious service medal with three OLC and Army commendation medal. He was the human resources director for the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and Centennial Olympic Park from 1992-2004. He also was a co owner and operator of sporting goods retail store from 1994-2002. He is a life member of the American Legion for more than 19 years, and has served in many officer roles. Additionally, he’s a member of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron No. 44, and other disabled and Vietnam Veterans organizations. He is a member of the First Baptist Church of Gulf Shores, associated member of the Marine Corps League and member of the Military Officers Association of America.